No Time To Die

Yesterday I watched the latest James Bond instalment on tv with the kids. We had an unexpected free Saturday evening with everyone home and no early Sunday hockey appointments so we took the opportunity to watch this more than two and a half hour long movie. This is apparently the 25th JB movie and I was curious to see if I would like the movie as the reception was a bit mixed with some not liking the story much. I wasn’t disappointed myself. The movie builds on the story and characters introduced in Spectre and I personally like No Time To Die better than Spectre. I found that movie too over the top even for James Bond who came across as even more indestructible than a terminator. No Time To Die is more balanced and James is in this case most of the time just extremely hard to kill. The fact that his aim is perfect and the bad guys seem to have difficulty to even hit a car also helps. It is not the best James Bond movie with Daniel Craig but also not the worst. The length of the movie was not a problem, it never felt as being drawn out without purpose. In my opinion it makes the movie more balanced. Although obviously still action packed there is time for a breather now and then and some space for suspense, mystery and double crossing and characters to develop dialogue and emotions. At the beginning of the movie we find James Bond living with Madeleine Swann. A nice touch is the use of the song ‘We have all the time in the world’ from Louis Armstrong in these early scenes. It also appeared in On Her Majesties Secret Service where James Bond has a love affair and marries but that marriage didn’t last long unfortunately. A musical bad omen if ever there was one. All in all the movie worked for me, the fact that the 2 hours and 45 minutes went by without me looking at my watch says enough.